When I stop listening, I have a hard time believing I just heard it.

April 20, 2013 6:21 PM

Katra Turana is the most delightfully baffling band I know. Sometimes they sound like a calypso band gone mad. Sometimes they sound like a tornado slamming into a string quartet. Sometimes they're catchy and heartwarming. Sometimes they're sparse and sinister. Or they're annoying in grandiose ways. And sometimes they blossom into something that's vulnerable, lush, and devastatingly beautiful. I know next to nothing about them. They confound me. I hope you find them as wondrous and as special as I do.
posted by Rory Marinich (24 comments total)

Katra Turana on Discogs, where you can find info on two albums, a single and an EP. Prog Archives has a page on them, with a short bio, and the same two albums and one EP listed in their discography.
posted by filthy light thief at 6:30 PM on April 20, 2013

Also, the Stalking Duppi blog posted the flexi single, along with the other 8 flexi discs from Marquee Moon. Timesink warning: the whole blog is devoted to Japanese 80's underground.
posted by filthy light thief at 6:33 PM on April 20, 2013 [2 favorites]

Their self-titled album can be streamed in its entirety on Youtube.

Unrelated to Katra Turana, Stalking Duppi is a terrific, terrific blog.
posted by Rory Marinich at 6:39 PM on April 20, 2013

This is sweet. That last link in the original post sounds intermittently like background music for a Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood trolley sequence, and a future-lounge Nino Rota remix. Oh, and then the vocal kicks in and it becomes the credits music for an anime version of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. But in an alternate world in which we're unsure whether the Ted Baxter character is actually a serial killer or not.
posted by ariel_caliban at 6:42 PM on April 20, 2013

And I didn't link it in the original post because it was getting stuffy, but Telephone off that album is another simply gorgeous song. (25 minutes in, should automatically skip there but sometimes shenanigans)
posted by Rory Marinich at 6:42 PM on April 20, 2013

I want to give this a fair shot, but this music is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much over in the Residents spectrum of deranged for me to feel comfortable with it. It's making me want to keep the lights on.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 6:48 PM on April 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

Sounds like it would be on the stereo at Peewee's Playhouse after the kids went home.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 6:58 PM on April 20, 2013 [3 favorites]

Thank you, they sound magical: just conventional enough to sound coherent, just unpredictable enough to really make you listen to the spaces between the sounds. It's also great to have the occasional reminder that Japan is no stranger to music.
posted by Nomyte at 7:06 PM on April 20, 2013

i listened to the first link, which was brilliant and fascinating - i think i need to hold off on the rest of it tonight as this is pretty dense stuff, but this is quite a find
posted by pyramid termite at 7:19 PM on April 20, 2013

This is insanely good. Wow. Thanks for this, Rory.
posted by koeselitz at 7:27 PM on April 20, 2013

This is appreciated - thanks. Reminds me somewhat of After Dinner.
posted by davebush at 7:36 PM on April 20, 2013

That is some nice stuff. Thanks for this!
posted by furiousthought at 7:45 PM on April 20, 2013

Another YouTube video gives the band members' names as:
広池敦 (vo)
Chihiro S. (bass)
斎藤史彦 (piano)
渡辺聡司 (perc)
大串善孝 (cello)
posted by Nomyte at 7:48 PM on April 20, 2013

Sounds like the soundtrack to Paranoia Agent.
posted by deathpanels at 7:57 PM on April 20, 2013

Oh!, I love this. But then I have a soft spot for odd Japanese bands.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 8:05 PM on April 20, 2013 [1 favorite]

I love lightly-trafficked MeFi music posts where the only comments are from people I recognize, but who you don't expect to bloviate on every single Topic Of Interest. This is weird, but in the best possible way. Thanks!
posted by spacewrench at 10:38 PM on April 20, 2013

This is brilliant. My first impression was that it sort of reminded me of a collaboration or mashup between Boredoms and Yamantaka // Sonic Titan, although the latter is much quieter and more melodic. I love this type of music. Thanks for the post!
posted by quiet earth at 11:16 PM on April 20, 2013

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much over in the Residents spectrum of deranged

Woke up at 3 am. Couldn't get back to sleep. Listened to some of this. It did not help. Listened to the rest of the links. Started watching Peter Greenaway movies. Never getting back to sleep.

(Wearing only a urine-stained robe, he shuffles outside into the cold moonlight. He admires the frosted crocus. The swans gnash their teeth.)
posted by Mr. Yuck at 2:03 AM on April 21, 2013 [6 favorites]

Alas, I was afraid this would turn out to have been a bad idea to listen to right before bed. I've been painfully wound up all week on an mixture of anxiety and sadness and this did not help.
posted by drlith at 7:20 AM on April 21, 2013

This is relevant to my interests. Thank you.
posted by ostranenie at 8:28 AM on April 21, 2013

Zappaesque.
posted by kozad at 8:48 AM on April 21, 2013 [2 favorites]

My very first thought as well.
posted by Splunge at 11:45 AM on April 21, 2013

Like some kind of bastard child of Fushitsusha and Maher Shalal Hash Baz. In other words, yeah.
posted by SomaSoda at 7:52 PM on April 21, 2013

The song in the second link, Epigenesis, reminds me of Terry Riley's Half-wolf dances mad in moonlight, in a good way. Thanks.
posted by ikalliom at 1:32 PM on April 22, 2013